Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets are a professional ice hockey team based in Columbus, Ohio, competing in the Metropolitan Division of the NHL's Eastern Conference. Established in 2000 as an expansion team, the Blue Jackets are notable for being the first NHL franchise in Ohio since the Cleveland Barons folded in the late 1970s. They play their home games at Nationwide Arena, which was financed by Nationwide Insurance to secure the team’s establishment. Historically, the Blue Jackets struggled in their early years, failing to advance past the first round of the playoffs for nearly two decades.
The team's name pays homage to Ohio's Civil War history, reflecting the blue jackets worn by Union soldiers, and their colors are patriotic red, white, and blue. The franchise achieved its first significant playoff success in 2014, and in 2019, they made history by defeating the NHL's top regular-season team in the first round. Notable players in the team's history include Rick Nash, who is the all-time leading scorer, and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner. Despite recent struggles on the ice and declining attendance, the Blue Jackets remain an integral part of Ohio's sports culture, with a dedicated fan base.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Team information
- Inaugural season: 2000
- Home arena: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio
- Owner: John P. McConnell
Overview
The Columbus Blue Jackets is an American hockey team playing in the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). It was the first NHL franchise in Cleveland since the ill-fated Cleveland Barons in the 1970s. The Blue Jackets was an expansion team, added in 2000 along with the Minnesota Wild. The team’s early years brought only moderate success, and the team did not advance to a second round of championship playoffs for nineteen years. During the first twenty seasons, the Blue Jackets were unable to win any division or conference championships to advance to Stanley Cup championship play. The team plays in the Nationwide Arena, a facility built with financing provided by the insurance company of the same name to help the city and investors secure the rights to an NHL franchise. The Blue Jackets’ minor league affiliate is the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League (AHL).
History
The Blue Jackets were not the first NHL team to play in Ohio. The Cleveland Barons played for two seasons between 1976 and 1978. The Barons came into existence after the owners of the 1967 expansion team the California Golden Seals were convinced to move the Seals from California to Ohio. There, they took the name of a former AHL franchise and shared a facility with the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers. However, the rink and its location were not suited for drawing crowds large enough to sustain a team. The team folded after just two seasons, and through the early 2000s has remained the last major American sports franchise to fold. As a result, it took more than twenty years before anyone attempted to bring the NHL to Ohio again.
The Blue Jackets’ history began on November 1, 1996, when the Columbus Hockey Limited partnership was formed and submitted an application to the NHL for a franchise in Columbus, Ohio. Issues related to a referendum to fund the arena that was needed for a franchise to be awarded nearly derailed the plan. However, on May 31, 1997, Nationwide Insurance announced it would provide financing for the arena, which paved the way for the NHL to formally award the franchise in June of that same year.
On November 11, the partnership announced that the new team would be called the Columbus Blue Jackets. The name was chosen from the top ten of fourteen thousand entries in a contest to name the team. The final selection was a cooperative effort between the franchise owners and the NHL, who first whittled the list to two: Blue Jackets and Justice. The final name was chosen because it represents Ohio’s historic Civil War (1961–1965) past. Ohio contributed a greater percentage of its citizens to the war effort than any other state. Most of the uniforms worn by the Union—including their blue jackets—came from Ohio.
The jerseys feature a patriotic red, white, and blue color scheme. The team’s logo includes an unfurled red ribbon with thirteen stars to represent the thirteen original colonies and a contrasting bright green hockey stick as the “J” in the team’s name. The stick is capped with a star denoting Columbus’s status as the state capital. Alternate jerseys feature a Union Army blue soldier’s cap with crossed hockey sticks where the crossed rifles appear on the actual hats.
Another nod to the state’s past is the cannon that is fired after each Blue Jackets’ goal at home. Added in 2007, the cannon is a replica of an 1857 French-made Napoleon cannon that was commonly used during the Civil War. It is fired with a special pyrotechnic charge meant to be used indoors and makes a sound as loud as a jet flying overhead at just 1,000 feet.
The first player signed by the Blue Jackets was Greg Gardner, a goalie from Niagara University. The Blue Jackets then negotiated a trade with the New York Islanders, acquiring forward Chris Nielsen in exchange for fourth- and ninth-round picks in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. During that draft, the Blue Jackets chose defenseman Rostislav Kleslair. These players joined the eleven chosen in the 2000 expansion draft intended to help fill the rosters for the Blue Jackets and the league’s other 2000 expansion team, the Minnesota Wild.
Blue Jackets’ expansion draft pick Bruce Gardiner, a former center for the Tampa Bay Lightning, scored the team’s first-ever goal in its opening game on October 7, 2000. The team won only 28 games that year and mustered 71 points, finishing out of playoff contention. The following year was worse—the team earned only 57 points and finished next to the bottom of the league.
During that same 2001–2002 season, Brittanie Cecil, a 13-year-old fan, was struck and killed by a puck that deflected off the ice surface at Nationwide Arena. Her death was the first ever from such an injury in an NHL arena and prompted the installation of netting in all NHL facilities to protect fans from similar injuries. To honor her, Blue Jackets’ players wore small red hearts with her initials on them for the remainder of the season.
A substantial effort to bolster the Blue Jackets’ performance during 2003 and 2005 fell short of the desired results. The team drafted talented forward Rick Nash with the first pick in the 2003 entry draft and Gilbert Brule in the 2005 draft. It also traded for defenseman Adam Foote in 2005. Along with Klesla and others on the roster, these players strengthened the team considerably. Despite injuries, by the end of 2005, the team improved, setting several franchise records and finishing third in its division. However, its continued failure to reach the playoffs ultimately cost the jobs of both Don MacLean, general manager and president, and Gerard Gallant, head coach.
In 2013, an NHL realignment resulted in the team moving from the Central Division of the Western Conference into the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets clinched their first playoff spot in a game on April 9, 2014, that was also notable because it had been suspended on March 10 after Dallas Stars player Rich Peverley suffered a cardiac incident that stopped the game. The team advanced to the division quarterfinals but was eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The 2017 and 2018 playoffs marked the first time the Blue Jackets reached the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, though they failed to advance both years. The following year, they finally won a first-round series to advance to the division semifinals. The win against the Tampa Bay Lightning was especially monumental because it marked the first time in NHL history any team eliminated the league’s top regular season team from the first round of the playoffs.
The early 2020s saw Columbus foundering again. The team ended 2020-2021 twenty-eighth out of thirty-one teams. The Blue Jackets improved the next season, finishing twenty-first, but finished the 2022-2023 season second from the bottom of the league with just 25 wins, and a dismal 59 points. The lack of success was reflected in ticket sales; in 2023, average attendance was just 86 percent of capacity in Nationwide Arena.
Notable players
Every team in the league retired Wayne Gretzky's number 99 in 2000. The Blue Jackets have retired just one number, Rick Nash's 61, in March 2022.
Sergei Fedorov, who was part of the Blue Jackets’ roster, has been named to the Hall of Fame. Fedorov also played with the Detroit Red Wings, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Washington Capitals, and several Russian teams. During his three seasons with the Blue Jackets (2005–2008), Fedorov played in 185 games and had 39 goals and 74 assists.
Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky won the Vezina Trophy for outstanding goaltender for the 2012–2013 and 2016–2017 seasons when he posted a .932 and .931 save percentage, respectively. He holds the team record for most wins with 41 during the 2016–2017 season and represented the Blue Jackets at the All-Star game that year as well.
In 2003, Nash shared the Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophy as goal-scoring leader with two other players after all three finished the season with 31 goals. Nash is the team’s all-time top scorer with 289 goals and 258 assists for 547 points in 674 games played.
Second to Nash in all-time scoring is Cam Atkinson, who joined the team in 2011. As of early 2024, Atkinson had netted 213 goals and 189 assists in 627 games played. He and Nash share the team season-high goal total with 41 each, with Nash reaching that total in 2003–2004 and Atkinson in 2018–2019.
Goalie Steve Mason won the Calder Trophy as the outstanding rookie of the year in 2008–2009 when he won 31 games and posted a .916 save percentage.
Nick Foligno, who joined the team in 2012 and served as the team captain, earned the Nick Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership and humanitarianism as well as the Mark Messier Leadership Award.
Bibliography
“Blue Jackets Franchise History.” Arena-District, www.arenadistrict.com/news/blue-jackets-franchise-history/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
“Columbus Blue Jackets.” Hockey Reference, 2024, www.hockey-reference.com/teams/CBJ/history.html. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
“Columbus Blue Jackets Make Franchise History.” WOSU Radio, 17 Apr. 2019, radio.wosu.org/post/columbus-blue-jackets-make-franchise-history. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
“Columbus Blue Jackets Team History.” Sports Team History, 2024, sportsteamhistory.com/columbus-blue-jackets. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
Lengel, David. “The Forgotten Story of ... The Barons, Cleveland's Ill-Fated NHL Team.” The Guardian, 14 May 2015, www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/14/the-forgotten-story-of-the-barons-clevelands-ill-fated-nhl-team. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
Mendes, Ian. "NHL Attendance Analysis: Biggest Risers and Fallers Year-Over-Year." The Athletic, 5 Dec. 2023, theathletic.com/5107905/2023/12/05/nhl-team-attendance-analysis/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.
O'Brien, James. "Blue Jackets Retire Rick Nash's Number 61 Jersey." NBC Sports, 5 Mar. 2022, www.nbcsports.com/nhl/news/blue-jackets-retire-rick-nashs-number-61-jersey. Accessed 20 Mar. 2024.